


Parallel

by bitofageek



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence - His Last Vow, Gen, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 12:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14057064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitofageek/pseuds/bitofageek
Summary: This is my 3rd work, but my first longer piece, and it's a bit of an experiment - combining existing script with re-imagining reality.Huge thanks to https://arianedevere.livejournal.com/ for the fantastic transcript work - for the chunks of Season 4 episodes used within this work.   The “script” format is Ariane’s transcript work, regular text is the AU where I mix reality and dreams together.I know, the “it was all a dream” concept can be trite, but season 4 was just frustrating enough that a lot of Sherlock fans wish it was a dream. So to satisfy my own need for a less frustrating season, this is a Season 4 AU, starting from the HLV scene in Magnussen's office, between Magnussen, Mary and Sherlock.





	Parallel

_*   *   *  *_

_MARY: Is John with you?_

_SHERLOCK (shakily) : He’s, um ..._

_MARY (firmly) : Is John here ?_

_SHERLOCK: He-he’s downstairs._

_(She nods.)_

_MAGNUSSEN (softly) : So, what do you do now? Kill us both?_

_(Keeping her pistol aimed in front of her, Mary smiles humourlessly over her shoulder towards him before turning her gaze back to Sherlock. As Sherlock speaks, Magnussen slowly lowers his hands and begins to reach down)_

_SHERLOCK: Mary, whatever he’s got on you, let me help._

_(He shifts his weight onto one foot, preparing to step towards her.)_

_MARY (in a somewhat exasperated voice) : Oh, Sherlock, if you take one more step I swear I will kill you._

_SHERLOCK (shaking his head with a small smile on his face) : No, Mrs Watson._

_(She stares at him, her mouth opening a little.)_

_SHERLOCK (gently)_ _: You won’t._

 

**Sherlock’s eyes widen, catching the motion of Magnussen pulling a concealed weapon from its holster, preparing to shoot Mary. She reacts quickly, turns and shoots as he fires at her. Magnussen drops to the floor, dead, his bullet having missed its target. Mary is briefly relieved to have avoided death at Magnussen’s hand, but then realizes she didn’t hear the bullet hit the mirrored wall....the one behind Sherlock.**

 

_The bullet impacts his lower chest, just above the V of his buttoned jacket and slightly to the right of his shirt buttons...Sherlock’s eyes unfocus and a slight look of shock appears on his face.... He looks down at the bullet hole and after a moment blood begins to pour from the hole.)_

_MARY (her voice a little tearful) : I’m sorry, Sherlock. I truly am._

_(Sherlock raises his head and looks at her.)_

_SHERLOCK: Mary?_

 

> _Sherlock falls to the floor, bleeding and losing consciousness._

In Sherlock’s mind palace... _a loud alarm siren begins to blare repeatedly. The room darkens around Sherlock and a spotlight shines onto his face as he stares ahead of himself in shock._

_As the alarm continues, he is suddenly running quickly down the flights of a staircase in a white-walled building. Everything about the view suggests that this place is decaying and unlived in – the paint is peeling from the walls, the concrete of the uncarpeted stairs is crumbling and the red paint on the bannisters is cracking off. The camera is above the stairs and there are several storeys below where he currently is. He clings to the bannisters and braces his other hand on the wall as he continues rapidly downwards._

_Back in Magnussen’s room, Molly – wearing her white lab coat – walks around behind Sherlock.)_

_MOLLY (smiling): It’s not like it is in the movies. There’s not a great big spurt of blood and you go flying backwards... The impact isn’t spread over a wide area._

_(She’s now in a white-walled mortuary room and she walks over to a body lying on a table in the middle of the room. The body is covered with a white sheet and has an identity tag tied to one bare toe.)_

_MOLLY: You’re almost certainly going to die, so we need to focus._

_._

__MOLLY: So, it’s all about one thing now._ _

_(Sherlock, with his hands braced on the table in front of him, starts to sway. The loud alarm finally fades out and goes silent.)_

_MOLLY: Forwards, or backwards?_

__._ _

_In Magnussen’s flat, Sherlock continues his slow-motion fall backwards, and finally lands on the carpet staring upwards blankly.)_

_MOLLY (offscreen): Without the shock, you’re going to feel the pain._

 

**Mary looks down at Sherlock, worry - and a touch of fear in her eyes, her professional facade no longer in place. She touches her ear, speaking as she leaves the scene, “code red, Sherlock Holmes has been shot by Magnussen. Magnussen is dead. Medical care URGENT, protection needed for John Watson and Magnussen’s PA, NOW”. Seconds later, John enters the room and runs to Sherlock’s side, barely registering Magnussen’s dead body only a few feet away.**

 

_JOHN’s VOICE: Sherlock?   (In Magnussen’s room, John is on his knees beside Sherlock, gently patting his face.)_

_JOHN: Sherlock?   (He bends down to put his ear against Sherlock’s mouth.)_

_JOHN: Can you hear me?    (He flips open Sherlock’s coat and sees a lot of blood on his shirt around the bullet wound.)_

_JOHN: Sherlock! Oh, my …_

_._

_JOHN: Sherlock.    (He is sitting or kneeling behind the paramedic, looking at his friend with concern.)_

_JOHN: We’re losing you. Sherlock?    (Sherlock’s eyes crack open a little.)_

__._ _

_In an operating theatre in a hospital, a heart monitor is letting out a single continuous tone and a flat line rolls across the screen. One of several surgeons surrounding the operating table does a few more heart compressions on Sherlock’s chest and then withdraws his hands. As the doctors turn away from the table, having clearly been trying to restart his heart for some time but now having decided that there is no point continuing, an overhead view of the operating table shows Sherlock, bare to the waist and with a breathing tube down his throat, lying with his eyes closed as the monitor’s single tone continues. The lights in the room seem to go out, leaving a single light shining down on his body._

_In his mind’s eye, Sherlock sees a rapid montage of images: several moments from when Magnussen showed him the edge of the papers in his jacket pocket in 221B’s living room; then Mary aiming her gun down at Magnussen in his flat before Sherlock knew who the potential killer was; then the front door to 221B. His inner vision closes in on the door and settles on it._

_In the operating room, his eyelids begin to lift as the heart monitor’s blips become more regular. The surgeon looks down at him ... _and Sherlock Holmes opens his eyes._ _

 

**Mycroft sits by Sherlock’s bedside in ICU, his face showing deep concern as he looks down at the tubes and wires keeping his brother alive. He sighs heavily.**

**“Brother mine, this was not supposed to happen”. He closes his eyes briefly. “The threat has been neutralized. Your case for Lady Smallwood is closed.”  He takes another breath, “Mary and John are also safe. John has been informed of the nature of his wife’s training. He was rather upset to discover she was assigned to him as protection during your time away, but I assured him her subsequent relationship with him was NOT part of the ‘plan’ as it were.” Mycroft smiles thinly, somewhat amused that he’s telling his younger brother about his ‘goldfish’.**

**“Sherlock, you must get well. Your loss would break my heart.”**

 

_JOHN (looking round to his friend) : Sherlock, what do we do? (He turns to look at the helicopter again.)_

_MAGNUSSEN (over his shoulder) : Nothing ! (He looks round at them.) There’s nothing to be done! Oh, I’m not a villain. I have no evil plan. I’m a businessman, acquiring assets. You happen to be one of them!_

_(While John continues to stare towards the helicopter, Sherlock turns his head and looks at his friend, and his gaze is penetrating and intense.)_

_MAGNUSSEN: Sorry. No chance for you to be a hero this time, Mr Holmes._

_._

_SHERLOCK (loudly, lifting his head) : Oh, do your research._

_(He steps closer to John, reaches round behind him and into John’s coat pocket, then steps away again and walks forward towards Magnussen.)_

_SHERLOCK: I’m not a hero … (Magnussen turns to look at him.)_

_SHERLOCK: ... I’m a high-functioning sociopath. (He widens his eyes and glares at the man.)_

_SHERLOCK: Merry Christmas!_

_(He raises John’s pistol, aims it at Magnussen’s head and fires. As John recoils and even before Magnussen hits the ground, Sherlock drops the gun to the patio and turns towards the helicopter, raising his hands.)_

_._

_JOHN: Oh, Christ , Sherlock.   (Keeping his hands raised, Sherlock looks round to him again.)_

_SHERLOCK: Give my love to Mary. (John stares at him, his face full of anguish.)_

_SHERLOCK: Tell her she’s safe now._

 

**Sherlock’s recovery is slow. He hadn’t completely recovered from the 2 years taking down Moriarty’s network, and combined with the major damage done by the bullet, reality and dreams blur together. His mind palace is in upheaval - so much to process!**

**He dreams about Redbeard. He dreams of taking a case about Margaret Thatcher’s head. Of tracking down the suspect with his family - John, Mary, Rosie and a bloodhound. He dreams of trying to protect Mary from a gunman, but then it’s a woman, and she’s shooting at him, but Mary dies… and John hates him, because it’s his fault.**

 

_Sherlock reaches out a hand to touch him but before he can make contact John’s head comes up, his teeth clenched and his face full of murderous rage. He glares up at Sherlock, breathing heavily.)_

_JOHN (savagely): Don’t you dare. (He takes several harsh breaths.)_

_JOHN (savagely, softly): You made a vow. You swore it._

_(His eyes wide with shock, Sherlock starts to step back._

 

_**He broke John’s heart after the Fall, and he’s broken it again…** _

 

**John holds Sherlock’s hand as he sleeps. He visits often. Now that he’s lost his wife to the violence of her past and the greed and spitefullness of a petty woman, Sherlock and Rosie are all the family he has. Sometimes John brings Rosie to visit Sherlock. She snuggles up to Sherlock, napping with her godfather - listening to him breathe while her dad tells stories of their adventures.**

**John talks to Sherlock when he visits while Rosie’s with the nanny, pouring out his heart - words he can’t seem to share in therapy.**

**...about how angry he was when Sherlock “surprised” him with the return at the restaurant.**

**...about how that anger was a cover for so much sadness, and guilt and loss.**

**...about how Mycroft told him his wife was an agent, and a hero, and his protector.**

**...about how much he hated himself for not being able to protect her.**

**...about how desperately sad he is that rosie doesn’t have her mother.**

 

**Sherlock dreams of trying to fix everything - of Mary telling him to “Save John”, and to do it by going after a really bad guy. In spectacular Sherlock fashion, and in emotional desperation, his fever dream spirals into drug abuse:**

  _JOHN: Sherlock’s using again._

_(Her slight smile fades. Behind her, Sherlock climbs into the back of the ambulance.)_

_MOLLY: Oh God. But, um, a-are you sure?_

_(Mrs Hudson has come along the hall and stops just behind John.)_

_JOHN: No. It’s Sherlock . Of course I’m not sure._

 

**and serial killers:**

_SMITH: I need to kill someone. (Sherlock stops.)_

_FAITH (offscreen) : Who?_

_SHERLOCK: Who? _(Smith chuckles silently.)_ _

_SMITH: Anyone! (He laughs.)_

_SHERLOCK: Of course! _(Smith continues to laugh, putting the back of one hand up to his mouth.)_ _

_SHERLOCK: He doesn’t want to kill one person; he wants to kill anyone . (He stares at Smith, his eyes wide.) He’s a serial killer!_

_SMITH (his hand lowered again) : Anyone._

_SHERLOCK: He could be._

_SMITH: Anyone ._

_SHERLOCK: Why not? Why shouldn’t he be?_

 

**and intricate plans:**

_SHERLOCK (quick fire, not turning round) : Thirty feet and closing: the most significant undetected serial killer in British criminal history._

_(Smiling, Smith walks towards them followed by his entourage.)_

_SHERLOCK (to John) : Help me bring him down._

_JOHN: What ... what plan?_

_SHERLOCK: I’m not telling you._

_JOHN: Why not?_

_SHERLOCK: Because you won’t like it._

 

**and mystery women:**

_SHERLOCK: So who came to my flat? (He raises his eyes to Faith.)_

_FAITH: Well, it wasn’t me._

_(Smith’s laughter becomes louder.)_

_SMITH: Oh, no!   (He doubles over laughing. Faith lets out a quiet confused laugh.)_

_SHERLOCK (staring at her) : You ... look ... different._

_FAITH: I wasn’t there._

_(Smith cackles with delight. Sherlock screws his eyes shut.)_

_SHERLOCK’s VOICE (in a whisper in his head) : Who came to my flat?_

 

**John talks to Sherlock when he visits while Rosie’s with the nanny, pouring out his heart - words he NEEDS to share in therapy.**

**...about how he’s afraid he’s turning into his sister, his father**

**...about how empty he feels, how dead inside**

**...about how he feels like he’s going to explode**

**...about how he scared Rosie when he punched the wall - and how much he scared himself.**

 

**In spectacular Sherlock fashion, and in emotional desperation, his fever dream spirals into an angry/frightening John:**

_JOHN (loudly, angrily) : Stop it! (He pulls Sherlock forward a little and then slams him back against the cabinet again.)_

_JOHN (even louder, emphasising each word) : Stop It Now!_

_JOHN (yelling) : What are you doing?! (He slaps Sherlock hard across the face with his right hand.)_

_JOHN: Wake up! In the mortuary, John punches Sherlock right-handed with all his strength._

_Crying out, Sherlock falls to the floor. Gasping, he props himself up on his right arm, his nose bleeding._

_JOHN (yelling furiously): Is this ... (he bends down and punches him in the face again) ... a game?_

_(Behind them, and unseen by Faith who is watching the other men, Smith’s expression becomes intense as he looks at them.)_

_JOHN: A bloody game?_

_(Again Sherlock tries to rise up and again John punches him down. Faith turns her head towards the doors as if seeing something. His face twisted with rage, John kicks Sherlock’s body hard, then again. Sherlock groans and John kicks him again. Two male medical staff come in, see what’s happening and run across the room. John is kicking at Sherlock again and the men run to either side of him, seize his arms and drag him backwards._

 

**and he doesn’t want to die:**

_SMITH: But you don’t actually want to die._

_SHERLOCK: No._

_(Smith smiles.)_

_SMITH: Good. (Still smiling, he continues rolling up his sleeves.) Say that for me. Say it._

_SHERLOCK (frowning slightly) : I don’t want to die._

_SMITH (looking at his left sleeve as he rolls it up) : And again._

_SHERLOCK (a little louder and more firmly) : I don’t want to die._

_SMITH (softly, looking at him as he rolls his right sleeve even higher) : Once more for luck._

_SHERLOCK (his voice tearful) : I don’t want to die. I don’t … (He pauses as Smith steps closer to bed and leans over him.)_

_SHERLOCK (tearfully) : ... don’t want to die._

_(Smith leans closer until his face is only a few inches above Sherlock’s.)_

_SMITH (softly, intensely) : Lovely._

 

**but he’s too weak to fight:**

_SMITH (in a whisper) : Take a big breath if you want._

_(Sherlock, looking afraid, lowers his gaze to Smith’s hands.)_

_MARY (on the DVD) : Go to Hell, Sherlock._

_(Sherlock gasps in a breath as Smith lays his right palm over his mouth and presses down hard, then covers Sherlock’s nose with his left hand.)..._

_SMITH (pushing his hands down while Sherlock writhes under him): Murder is a very difficult addiction to manage. People don’t realise how much work goes into it. You have to be careful._

_(Sherlock’s eyes are wide and he grabs at Smith’s lower right arm and flails weakly with his other hand, trying to dislodge him.)..._

_(Sherlock struggles, his eyes full of panic.)_

_SMITH (in an intense whisper): Please, maintain eye contact. Maintain eye contact._

_(Sherlock stares up at him, writhing.)..._

_SMITH (savagely, slowly): And off we ... pop._

_(Sherlock’s eyes glaze and begin to close.)_

_(Sherlock stops moving and the heart monitor goes into a long single tone._

 

**but John comes back:**

_The door smashes open revealing John holding a fire extinguisher. Clearly he just rammed it into the door to break the lock. Smith turns to look, straightening up and releasing Sherlock, who noisily hauls in a long painful breath. As the heart monitor starts to blip again, John drops the fire extinguisher and storms into the room, followed by the police officer.)_

 

**and it is what it is:**

_JOHN: You didn’t kill Mary._

_(Sherlock’s eyes snap up to look at him.)_

_JOHN: Mary died saving your life. It was her choice. No-one made her do it. No-one could ever make her do anything … (Mary smiles at him.)_

_JOHN: ... but the point is: you did not kill her._

.

_John stares ahead of himself for a long moment, then gradually lowers his head into his left hand and starts to cry. Sherlock quietly puts his mug onto the table beside him, then stands up. John sobs, tears pouring from his face and falling to the floor. Slowly Sherlock walks across to him.)_

_SHERLOCK (softly): It’s okay._

_(He tentatively raises his arms, perhaps hesitating momentarily for fear of being rejected again, then slowly puts his left hand onto John’s arm and his right hand onto his back before sliding it upwards to gently cradle his neck. He moves closer, sliding his left arm up to hold John’s shoulder.)_

_JOHN (tearfully): It’s not okay._

_SHERLOCK (softly): No._

_(He lowers his cheek onto the top of John’s head.)_

_SHERLOCK (softly): But it is what it is._

_(Blinking against his own tears, he continues to hold his sobbing best friend.)_

 

**John talks to Sherlock when he visits while Rosie’s with the nanny, pouring out his heart - words he can finally share with Sherlock because - for himself and his family - he got help:**

**...about how sorry he is for what he put Sherlock through**

**...that Sherlock is his best friend**

**...about how much he wants him to be OK.**

*** * * * ***

**SO MUCH emotional turmoil, so much “Emotional Context”**

**Freak… Psychopath… Wierdo… Friendless… Loner… “High Functioning Sociopath” - words used to describe Sherlock. Some of those words hurt; all no longer fit.**

**“Sentiment is a chemical defect found in the losing side.” His brother was fond of that one. Sherlock said it himself, but after 2 years being “dead” and alone, he finally saw those words for the lie they were. WHY had he ever thought they were true?**

 

_MYCROFT (looking at him) : Memories can resurface; wounds can re-open. The roads we walk have demons beneath ... (he turns his gaze to Sherlock) ... and yours have been waiting for a very long time. I never bullied you. I used – at discrete intervals – potential trigger words to update myself as to your mental condition. I was looking after you._

 

**Redbeard, what happened to Redbeard?**

_EURUS (smiling slightly) : Interesting. Mycroft told me you’d rewritten your memories; he didn’t tell me you’d written me out completely._

_SHERLOCK: What do you mean, “rewritten”?_

_(She looks at him intensely.)_

_EURUS: You still don’t know about Redbeard, do you?_

 

**“Alone protects me”**

**So much loss - when your best friend dies (Victor, “Redbeard the Pirate”); when your childhood home is destroyed in a fire - what else can a child like him do? Shut down, bury emotions - forget it all, rewrite it all - to “protect” himself, he thought.**

_**“Alone protects me”** _

**And he was “fine”, until Lestrade came into his life, and then Mrs. Hudson, and Molly, and finally John.  Bit by bit, the walls weakened and crumbled - whether he wanted them to or not.**

 

_EURUS (softly) : You think it’s a trick. You look so ... unsure. You’re not used to being unsure, are you?_

_SHERLOCK: It’s more common than you’d think._

  **“Alone protects me”**

 

_Outside, adult Mycroft stands looking at the house. The entire upper storey is ablaze and parts of the roof have already fallen in. As more of the roof collapses, large flakes of ash float down around him. He stares towards the house with a look of devastation on his face, and closes his eyes._

**“Alone protects me”**

 

_Not anymore._

 

**Sherlock is healing. Everyone who cares for him waits. John, Molly, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock’s homeless network, Archie (ring bearer), Anderson, even Sally Donovan. So many lives touched by the man who “doesn’t care”...**

**Molly visits almost as often as John, sometimes they’re there at the same time. She sits with Sherlock in the evenings before she goes home, soothing him when his dreams turn to nightmares. She’s just glad he’s alive and recovering. It’s taking a long time, and he spends so much time in his mind palace or asleep - it’s a bit alarming.**

**When she’s sure he can’t hear her, when she’s alone in the hospital room and Sherlock is asleep, Molly opens her heart and tells him she loves him and he needs to wake up, to come back to them...to her.**

 

_MOLLY (flatly) : Say it. (More softly) Say it like you mean it._

_(Startled, he looks up towards the nearby camera. Eurus leans forward in the office.)_

_EURUS: Final thirty seconds._

_...Sherlock faces the screen, his eyes closed. He takes a breath, summoning the strength to say the words.)_

_SHERLOCK (slowly, hesitantly) : I-I ..._

_(Molly has her eyes closed against her tears. She brings up her free hand to the side of her face where she’s holding the phone. Opening her eyes for a moment, she shuts them again and moves her free hand around to cup the one which is holding the phone to her ear. Sherlock has his head lowered but then raises it.)_

_SHERLOCK: I love you.   (He opens his eyes and looks towards the screen. Molly sighs softly and smiles a little, bringing the thumb of her top hand round to press it against her mouth. Sherlock stares at the screen.)_

_SHERLOCK (more softly) : I love you._

_(Molly closes her eyes again for a moment and then brings the phone round to look at its screen. Sherlock looks at the wallscreen anxiously, perhaps worried that she’s going to hang up.)_

_SHERLOCK: Molly?_

_(The countdown reaches 00.13 . Molly brings her hand round towards the screen. It looks as if she is about to hang up as she lifts the phone closer to her mouth. Sherlock steps closer to the screen, his expression frantic.)_

SHERLOCK: Molly, _please_.

_(Gazing into the distance and holding the phone in both hands, Molly rubs a finger across her mouth... Molly takes her finger from her mouth and takes in a breath. With her mouth almost touching the phone, she speaks softly.)_

MOLLY: I love you.

_(Sherlock gasps and rears back from the screen as the countdown clock beeps several times to signify that it has stopped. Sherlock also sighs and buries his head in both hands, bending forward.)_

 

**Sherlock tosses restlessly in his sleep, and Molly takes his hand, murmerring soothing words. Sherlock breathes deeply, and… “I love you”, he whispers, his hand tightening around Molly’s. He slowly calms, “I love you”, he whispers again. Molly’s eyes widen with shock. Sherlock doesn’t wake… but he doesn’t let go of her hand either. She lays her head down on the bed, her cheek against the back of his hand as she drifts off to sleep herself.**

 

**“Friends… friends protect you”.  **

 

_SHERLOCK (turning to face the others again) : A moment ago, a brave man asked to be remembered._

_SHERLOCK: I’m remembering the governor._

_(Holding the pistol in both hands, he lifts the muzzle and presses the end under his chin.)_

_SHERLOCK (calmly) : Ten ..._

_(Eurus frowns.) EURUS: No, no, Sherlock._

_(John looks briefly to Mycroft then back to Sherlock.)_

_SHERLOCK: Nine ..._

**“Friends… friends protect you”.  **

 

_EURUS: No, no. (She shivers.) It’s too late now._

_SHERLOCK (shifting closer to her and lowering his hand) : No it’s not. It’s not too late._

_(She cries, her eyes screwed tight and her face twisted with fear.)_

_EURUS: Every time I close my eyes, I’m on the plane. I’m lost, lost in the sky and ... no-one can hear me._

_(She pulls her knees closer to herself, crying silently. Sherlock reaches out and gently puts his hand onto hers again.)_

_SHERLOCK (in a whisper) : Open your eyes. I’m here. (She opens her eyes and slowly raises her head.)_

_SHERLOCK (in a whisper) : You’re not lost any more._

 

**Sherlock walks through his mind palace. “So much work to put things right” he thinks to himself. Sunlight pours through the windows. So many rooms, once blocked off, are open again - bright, clean, no longer stifling. Peeling paint and crumbling wallpaper - no longer evident. All of the halls are open wide and roomy.  Violin music softly plays throughout, warm and rich and soothing.**

 

_Sherlock gets out of the helicopter again on the beach at Sherrinford with his holdall in one hand. We start to realize that he is making repeated visits to play to his sister._

 

**Sherlock picks up the pace as he walks toward the main door of the mind palace, a determined look and a confident smile on his face. He is home. He is whole. He has friends. He has so much more.**

 

_Sherlock waves across the room and then walks forward to hand Rosie down to John, who is kneeling on the floor and wearing a pale grey shirt. John smiles in delight as he takes hold of his daughter and kisses her cheek.)_

_MARY (voiceover) : ... like they’ve always been there ..._

_(Nearby, Greg stands looking towards Sherlock with one hand raised to his head and a harassed look on his face. He gestures beckoningly towards him as he turns to the door.)_

_MARY (voiceover) : ... and they always will._

_(In the doorway as Greg leaves, Molly comes in smiling happily and walks across the room.)_

 

**Sherlock reaches out and grasps the doorknob with his hands, twists, and pulls it open....**

**In his hospital bed… with those he cares for, and those who care for him by his side, his eyes flutter open.**

 


End file.
